Advice requested - looking at buying a new car

[paulngui]

Hey folks, as the title suggests I'm after some advice regarding a car I'm looking at buying. It's a 02 Yaris diesel which I'm wanting to use for commuting.

When I test drove it, it all seemed pretty good, but one thing I noticed was that when driving straight ahead, the steering wheel is off center, about 5-10 degrees clockwise. Didn't seem like a critical issue, just annoying for anyone with OCD.

I got a pre-purchase inspection, and the guy I dealt with wasn't exactly confidence inspiring - vague sentences and poor grammar and spelling in his email reporting his findings. Anyway, just got a few questions after what he reported:

He said it needs the "front end parts" replacing to sort out the steering issue. When I asked him to elaborate on what parts, he said "lower control arms and two stablizer links and robbers". Does this sound reasonable, and by robbers would he mean rubber bushings?

Secondly, he also said front brake discs and pads need changing, as do rear wheel bearings. Looking back at the service receipts, I saw that the car got new front brake discs May 2011, so about 3 years ago. It's done about 33,000kms since then. Is it reasonable for it to need new ones again now?

And how long should wheel bearings last? It supposedly got new bearings at the same time as the front discs (i.e. May 2011, ~33,000kms ago) I'm trying to establish what bearings were actually changed as it's not clear.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the novel!

[paulngui]

Anybody? Want to know if I should be avoiding this car or not. Thanks

[Marky]

Sounds like it has enough issues to warrant not bothering

Unless its ridiculously cheap whats the appeal?

[paulngui]

It's nearly half the price of the others on the market, presumably as a reflection of the cosmetic body damage which I'm not fussed about. It's a private sale by a young guy who seems to just genuinely want to sell a car that he's no longer needing due to moving close to work.

[gotasuby]

a wheel alignment should fix steering wheel off centre also the pre purchase inspection is a joke if he cant tell you exactly what is wrong

[paulngui]

Yeah that appears to be the concensus. A joke alright, I'm convinced he's trying to get more money from me by saying it needs all these things doing!